The federal government is moving to designate Nunavut’s Grays Bay road and port, the Mackenzie Valley highway in the Northwest Territories and a nuclear waste repository in northwestern Ontario as the first projects under the Building Canada Act. 

Consultations are expected this summer, with official designations to potentially follow in the fall. 

The act replaces separate permits from multiple federal departments with a single conditions document, aiming to accelerate approvals and improve investor confidence. 

The federal government’s ability to fast-track the two Arctic projects may be limited, however, as assessments for both fall under co-management boards created through modern land claims agreements. 

Northwest Territories Finance Minister Caroline Wawzonek pushed back on concerns that the federal government could pressure Indigenous and territorial governments to speed up approvals, saying fast-tracking “gets a bit of a bad name.”

“We aren’t going to let projects just be done to us,” she said. “We want to do projects together.”

Wawzonek cited, as an example, the re-alignment of the proposed route for the Mackenzie Valley highway after consultations with Pehdzéh Kı̨́ First Nation last year. 

“By taking a step back, it’s actually moving us forward faster,” she said. 

READ MORE: Grays Bay Road and Port project lands $50M in federal critical mineral funding

For the Grays Bay road and port project, the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) recently told proponent West Kitikmeot Resources Corp. that more information is needed on how concerns for wildlife will be addressed. 

A pre-conference hearing report is expected in 2027, meaning the NIRB is still years away from completing the review, even if the federal government is hoping construction could begin in 2029.

When pressed during a technical briefing on how designation could accelerate the project, a government official suggested streamlining was possible in areas of federal jurisdiction, such as the Fisheries Act. Federal authorization would follow shortly after NIRB approval, with consultations running in parallel rather than consecutively.

Officials acknowledged the federal government cannot influence the review process, but argued there are other benefits to being listed as a project of national interest beyond regulatory streamlining.

National interest designation, they suggested, could itself serve as a signal to attract mining investment to the area. 

It could also signal that a project is a federal priority and potentially influence how some federal funding programs are allocated, although they clarified being listed under the Building Canada Act does not guarantee financing.

Nuclear project regulator not subject to Building Canada Act

As for the proposed nuclear waste project, Ottawa can only issue a conditions document once the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has given the green light, meaning designation could fast-track other aspects of the project but not the CNSC approval itself. 

Currently in the early planning stages of its impact assessment, the project awaits final guidelines expected in July. 

This follows a public comment period in May, where some submissions urged the Impact Assessment Agency to include nuclear waste transportation to Ignace within the scope of the review.

In a statement, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, which oversees the project, says a designation under the act could “support more efficient decision-making, help address regulatory issues, and enhance cross departmental coordination” while maintaining the independence of the CNSC review. 

Asked if the federal government would proceed to designate the project if Indigenous rights-holders in Treaty 3 clearly and firmly opposed it, a government official said conversations will be ongoing with all impacted groups. 

More to come…